Flash Flood — Wayne, Michigan

2021-06-26 · near Northville, Wayne, Michigan

Event narrative

Numerous roads and highways became impassable due to flooding. Four to eight inches of rainfall was reported in and around downtown Detroit, with Grosse Pointe Park reporting the highest total of 8.19 inches. Almost 15,000 homes suffered major flood damage, with close to 6000 homes experiencing minor flood damage across the northern part of county.

Wider weather episode

After several weeks of moderate to severe drought conditions in Southeast Michigan, an active weather pattern brought widespread rainfall and flooding to Metro Detroit and surrounding areas during the weekend of June 25-27th. Low pressure tracking along a stalled stationary boundary interacted with a very moist subtropical air mass to produce widespread 3 to 5 inches of rainfall across Metro Detroit (localized 6 to 8 inches), resulting in numerous reports of major flooding within the Detroit metro vicinity, especially Washtenaw and Wayne Counties. In addition to the heavy rain, an EF-2 tornado was observed near Port Austin in Huron County during this event just before 5 pm EST on June 26th.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.4357, -83.5514)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 970143. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.